"App" as in "applicaton". We used to call 'em programs, now they are "apps". NHPR did a 3 or four part series on the app business. A fair number of small companies that write apps have sprung up in New Hampshire. They are apparently doing well. As an old software guy, I listened to the whole thing, just to see what going down. NHPR skipped over the business model, like who buys apps (as opposed to downloading free ones), owner ship of the completed app, startup money. Also no talk about software development tools, compilers, loaders, libraries, like can you just buy them, or do you have to sign non disclosure agreements to keep every thing in the smart phone secret from hackers?
Last installment talked about education, a computer science degree from UNH is pretty much mandatory to get into the app writing business. Then NHPR revealed the great challenge to the educators, namely getting more girls to major in computer science. It's just terrible, the computer science major is only 10% female. Must be someone's fault. NHPR put more passion into the gender equality bit than anything else in the series.
Couldn't have anything to do with the fact that boys are deeper in love with computer games than girls. A major leading to a career in computer games is just naturally going to be more attractive to boys than to girls.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Is Obama dumb enough to default?
First let's define terms. Default means failure to pay interest upon the national debt. Which is treasury bills. T-bills for short. Default does not mean failure to pay social security, pay the bureaucrats, pay the troops, make home loans, open the national parks, pay medicare, or do all the other things the Federal government does. It just means failure to pay off the T-bills, or pay interest on the T-bills.
Right now American T-bills are the safest investment on the planet. America has always paid off on bonds, and this goes way back, like back to the Revolution. T-bills are issued by the strongest government on the planet, backed by the strongest economy on the planet, protected by the strongest armed forces on the planet. As a result, we can raise money anytime we please by printing up some more T-bills and selling them. People give us real cash money and we give them paper T-bills. And we don't even promise them very much interest. This is VERY useful to us. It's a national credit rating of 1000, the best you can get.
Default, will screw this up for ever. Default means we stop paying interest on T-bills and refuse to redeem them for cash when they mature. Do this just once, and the trust is broken. We will have to pay much higher interest rates to borrow, and we face the prospect of not being able to sell T-bills when we need to.
Any man of even marginal intelligence would know that we ought to pay off on the national debt BEFORE we pay anything else.
Is Obama a man of even marginal intelligence? To hear him talk, no. He has been threatening default for weeks. What if he carries thru on his threats?
Judging by the way he has made the "shutdown" as painful as possible, he is a man who enjoys inflicting pain on his citizenry. Is he dumb enough to default just to inflict more pain on his citizens?
Right now American T-bills are the safest investment on the planet. America has always paid off on bonds, and this goes way back, like back to the Revolution. T-bills are issued by the strongest government on the planet, backed by the strongest economy on the planet, protected by the strongest armed forces on the planet. As a result, we can raise money anytime we please by printing up some more T-bills and selling them. People give us real cash money and we give them paper T-bills. And we don't even promise them very much interest. This is VERY useful to us. It's a national credit rating of 1000, the best you can get.
Default, will screw this up for ever. Default means we stop paying interest on T-bills and refuse to redeem them for cash when they mature. Do this just once, and the trust is broken. We will have to pay much higher interest rates to borrow, and we face the prospect of not being able to sell T-bills when we need to.
Any man of even marginal intelligence would know that we ought to pay off on the national debt BEFORE we pay anything else.
Is Obama a man of even marginal intelligence? To hear him talk, no. He has been threatening default for weeks. What if he carries thru on his threats?
Judging by the way he has made the "shutdown" as painful as possible, he is a man who enjoys inflicting pain on his citizenry. Is he dumb enough to default just to inflict more pain on his citizens?
Warthog Fan Club
The Warthog, more formally the A10, is a close support aircraft. It isn't a supersonic fighter, it's a jet version of the Stuka. Which is why ground troops love it and the Air Force wants to retire it. With a 30 millimeter (inch and a quarter) Gatling gun it is tank buster supreme. What the rotary cannon cannot deal with, bombs and rockets slung under the wings can. But, with a top speed of less than 500 mph, it's dead meat against enemy fighters. The Air Force, run by fighter pilots, wants to fly air to air against enemy fighters. You don't make ace no matter how many tanks you bust.
Any how, there is now a Save-the-A10 Facebook page with 2722 likes, and any number of after dinner speakers supporting the old Warthog.
Any how, there is now a Save-the-A10 Facebook page with 2722 likes, and any number of after dinner speakers supporting the old Warthog.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Redskins, Washington type
I'd be more excited about this issue, if I thought the team name offended real American Indians. I know it offends paleface liberals, but hey, what's new? Paleface liberals are so easily offended.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Bookstores. Need to stock the FIRST of a series
More and more light fiction comes in series. Once an author gets something published, it's easy to publish sequels, unending sequels, leading to a whole series of books. Cool and all that, plus doing a sequel is easier on the writer, and the publisher is more likely to make an advance on a known property than take a flier on something new. So far, so good.
But, when I am book shopping, the stores don't stock all the books in the series, and even worse, don't stock the first book of the series.
This is a serious turnoff for this reader. Even if the series has an attractive title, and an intriguing cover illustration and a good blurb, I probably won't buy it if the cover says "Book N is the exciting Yada Yada series".
Why? Simple, authors writing sequels assume the read has read the previous book [s], and save time and work by skipping (or failing to repeat) essential development material. In the sequels characters appear, do something, and move on, with never a word about who they are, what side they are on, who they are involved with.
Anyhow, you book store operators, you could boost sales by making an effort to keep the first book of the series in stock.
But, when I am book shopping, the stores don't stock all the books in the series, and even worse, don't stock the first book of the series.
This is a serious turnoff for this reader. Even if the series has an attractive title, and an intriguing cover illustration and a good blurb, I probably won't buy it if the cover says "Book N is the exciting Yada Yada series".
Why? Simple, authors writing sequels assume the read has read the previous book [s], and save time and work by skipping (or failing to repeat) essential development material. In the sequels characters appear, do something, and move on, with never a word about who they are, what side they are on, who they are involved with.
Anyhow, you book store operators, you could boost sales by making an effort to keep the first book of the series in stock.
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